DO GMB LISTING HOURS, SPECIAL HOURS, OR OPEN DATE
IMPACT RANKINGS?

Our hypothesis was that modifications to a Google My Business (GMB) listing’s operating hours, including the setting of regular hours, special hours, and the open date, would significantly impact the listing’s search engine rankings. Specifically, we theorized that adding or adjusting these time-related elements could enhance the listing’s visibility or position in search engine results pages (SERPs) due to providing more specific information to potential customers, thereby improving the listing’s relevance and utility in Google’s local search algorithm. Conversely, we hypothesized that the absence of such updates or the static nature of these details, once set, might not contribute to significant ranking fluctuations, assuming other listing factors remained constant. This hypothesis was tested through careful observation and documentation of ranking changes following adjustments to the operating hours and open date on a test GMB listing.

We were testing the final GMB signals – GMB Regular Hours, Special Hours, and Open Date. First, it’s important to note we can only test the effects of adding hours to a listing because once hours are set to a listing you can only edit them, not completely remove them.

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